AHHHHHH! It’s finally here! Seeing this movie, at the time, was the most excited I had ever been to go see something on the big screen. Prepare for me to gush over this masterpiece of collaboration. First of all, it is 2 hours and 15 minutes of pure awesome. The movie jumps into some SHIELD action and, pretty quickly, Loki shows up “burdened with glorious purpose.” Loki steals the Tesseract and runs off with a mind-controlled Hawkeye. Maria Hill tries some badassery to prevent this, but alas, the movie has only just begun.
Then, of course, Nick Fury’s silence in response to “what do we do?” leading into the Avengers title sequence is amazing.
Then, the Avengers assemble.
Beginning with Nat being pulled out of an interrogation in which “this moron is giving me everything.” She goes to find Bruce Banner and fails miserably at lying to him. Then, we have Steve Rogers. The man out of time. Nick Fury comes to persuade him to help save the world. Of course, Steve Rogers doesn’t need to know much to be persuaded to save the world. Finally, Agent Coulson attempts to recruit Tony Stark. Several witty retorts later, he’s in. The assembling is done so incredibly well. Every character has a certain amount of hesitancy towards SHIELD because they are not a team…yet!
Next, Steve and Tony “capture” Loki. Tony makes several more jokes at literally everyone’s expense. Then, finally, 45 minutes into the movie, Thor shows up to steal Loki. Thor's arrival provides an awesome scene between him and Loki. The scene feels like a continuation of the first Thor movie. They are having a deep Shakespearean-like debate (in a park?) about their relationship and Loki’s actions when Tony Stark shows up to fight and quip. This fight scene remains one of the coolest in the whole franchise and it is capped with one of the coolest shots I have ever seen. Ironman, Captain America, and Thor stand in a circle and stare at the forest their mini-fight just destroyed.
I am getting a little long so I’ll pick up the pace. The Avengers bicker. Loki escapes. While doing so, he disables the Helicarrier, sends the Hulk wandering off, launches Thor in a prison towards the Earth, and kills Coulson all while stealing back his scepter (that we later learn has the mind stone in it). This all leads up to the awesome team-up battle against the Chitauri to end the film. Gosh. That is still so freaking cool.
Quick Hits
- Stan Lee’s cameo is at the end saying “Superheroes? In New York?”
- There is repeated use of reflections throughout the movie.
- Mark Ruffalo’s debut as Bruce Banner is awesome. The character is wonderfully detailed and filled with the same loneliness they established in his solo film.
- Most of the movie features small one-on-one scenes. Their juxtaposition with the big CGI fights elevates the battles even more.
- Coulson dies…. Then comes back in Agents of Shield. Bleh.
- Agent Hydra Sitwell
- Avengers is FILLED with amazing one-liners.
- “Your move reindeer games”
- “We have a Hulk”
- “Clench up Legolas”
- “And Hulk…Smash”
- “Puny god.”
- “That’s my secret Captain. I’m always angry.”
- Steve and Tony’s friendship as enemies begins. Literally, all they do is bicker and then help each other.
- Hulk knocking Thor out of frame is hilarious.
- Love all of the Nick Fury and Loki scenes.
- The shot with all of the Avengers in a circle preparing for the final battle is still the coolest shot in the whole franchise.
The Avengers (2012) successfully ties multiple franchises and character arcs together in a pleasing way. Every character has an important arc and the character interactions seem realistic. Steve and Tony would hate each other. Bruce and Tony would become best friends. Thor and Tony would fight. Steve and Thor would fight together. Bruce and Steve would stand awkwardly in large groups. Nat would trick and correct all of them except Bruce. Can’t lie to Bruce.
This is just a blast. Watching the characters bicker and fight and then come together to destroy a CGI army is incredibly fun. The success of this installment launched everything that we have gotten to enjoy over the years. It plants the seeds for so many storylines to come; Civil War, The Dark World, Ultron, SHIELD falling, Spiderman villains, and it even introduces Thanos. All in all, awesome.
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